Blood Trinity
The Blood Trinity, originally called the Mataras System, is a star system dominated by three habitable worlds located within the Jericho Reach. It is the source of much of the manpower for the forces of Chaos within that contested region of space. History Once known as the "Mataras Sisters" during the time of the lost Jericho Sector, this system was regarded as a jewel of the Imperium. The system supported four verdant and paradise-like Agri-worlds that served as a breadbasket for the planets of the sector's core. The onset of the sector's "Age of Shadows" heralded a slow descent into blasphemy for this system as, over time, the severed and abandoned Human populations embraced barbarity and the false promises of the Dark Gods to save themselves from the brutal predations of off-world slavers and the obscene hungers of the alien. In 920.M37, Mataras IV was subject to the final sanction of Exterminatus. This sanction was carried out by the Deathwatch in order to prevent a parasite-colony of the horrific Hadrus Skin-Weaver xenoform from spreading to neighbouring worlds. As the populations of the Mataras Sisters slowly succumbed to the worship of Chaos, they strove to outdo each other in savagery and slaughter. The three surviving worlds of Mataras became known as the "Blood Trinity," thriving on violence and fighting unceasingly amongst themselves for the favour of their gods, united only against anything foolish enough to attempt their conquest from without. The Deathwatch has long suspected that the warlike natives of the Blood Trinity were chosen as a harvesting ground for fresh recruits for certain warbands of the Traitor Legions, with the most vicious among their warriors selected for their ranks. When the forces of the Achilus Crusade first probed into the Cellebos Warzone and stirred the servants of Chaos into response, the god-clans and witch-covens of the Blood Trinity served as a ready base of manpower for the rising powers of damnation. Some of the most vicious shock-troops of the militaristic Stigmartus Chaos Cult have been drawn from the worlds of the Blood Trinity. The Heretic forces are well aware of the importance of the Blood Trinity to their cause. The system is now heavily patrolled by Renegade warships which have, so far, defeated any attempt by crusade forces to forge a beachhead into the system or conduct an effective raid. Furthermore, the infamous ''Carnage''-class Cruiser Black Grail and its attendant fleet -- believed to currently be in the possession of a splinter faction of the Word Bearers Traitor Legion -- has been repeatedly recorded at orbital anchorage over Matarus III, which indicates the level of opposition likely to be faced by any Imperial forces attempting to conquer this system. Trivia The opening quote on this page is actually an alteration of a famous quote from the 1982 movie Conan the Barbarian starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as the eponymous barbarian. In the movie, when asked what is best in life by his slave master, Conan responds, "To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women." Yet this quote itself was derived in the movie from a real world source about the Mongol emperor Ghenghis Khan, as quoted in Ghengis Khan: The Emperor of All Men by Harold Lamb, on pp. 106-107: "One day in the pavilion at Karakorum he Kahn asked an officer of the Mongol guard what, in all the world, could bring the greatest happiness. 'The open steppe, a clear day, and a swift horse under you,' responded the officer after a little thought, 'and a falcon on your wrist to start up hares.' 'Nay,' responded the Khan, 'to crush your enemies, to see them fall at your feet -- to take their horses and goods and hear the lamentation of their women. That is best.'" Sources * Deathwatch: Core Rulebook (RPG), pp. 348-349 *Trivia - Conan Quote Category:B Category:Chaos Category:Imperium Category:Jericho Reach Category:System Category:Word Bearers